Snapdeal employees worried about jobs, as merger looms with Flipkart

Even as the Japanese investor Softbank of Snapdeal is yet to conclude its potential stake sale to its rival Flipkart, the employees at the Gurgaon-based e-commerce firm continue to be worried.

A merger with bigger rival Flipkart is expected to consolidate operations and existing positions could be phased out over time as part of the deal.

"Many of our colleagues lost their jobs during the retrenchment exercise. We were given to understand that it was over. However with these reports of sale talks, we aren't sure about the future of our jobs," said one of the employees.

Moneycontrol had earlier reported that Snapdeal has let go off over half of its 4,300 staff strength as it talked about targeting profitability. The consolidation will also impact the top management as both companies will look to merge administrative positions, as in the case of the previous merger with Jabong which saw exits at the top.

In order to soothe anxious employees, the founders of the company had conducted multiple townhalls, last month.

Also Read: Snapdeal founders soothe anxious employees with townhalls

The deal which is being steered by the investors of the company has also been witnessing boardroom battles. It started off with differences between Softbank and early investors Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. Later, it turned out that Softbank had agreed to buy the stakes of the two funds.

However, negotiations are still on. For the deal to finally go through, consent of at least two major shareholders of Jasper Infotech, the parent firm of Snapdeal, is required, according to a report in The Economic Times.

Citing the shareholder agreements, the report said that three stakeholders out of the four major stakeholders that include Softbank, Kalaari, Nexus and promoters Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, need to give consent for the company's merger with Flipkart.